Sunday, November 23, 2008

Wine In A Heinz Ketchup Bottle.

Remember when Heinz ketchup used to be in glass bottles? I think that was ages ago, when I was growing up in the late 70's early 80s. So, what is the significance of a Heinz ketchup bottle? I actually met up with a friend of mine who I hadn't seen since high school. Growing up we were pretty tight, she was at my house a lot and witnessed a lot of our crazy Italian-isms. For an example, I thought that when it was time to make wine in our house, it was completely normal that we would use a glass bottle that happened to be a ketchup bottle. Don't get me wrong, we used normal bottles too, but the ketchup bottle got caught up in their too. Now, the bottles were stubby and odd looking back then, so we never really captured any kind of sophisticated wine making tactics or appearances. It was more like use what you have.

Well, in meeting with her and talking about the old days from our childhood, she happened to remember something so random, but apparently it left an impression on her. She says, "you know, only at your house did I experience the highest proof wine, of which your father brought up from the basement in a Heinz Ketchup bottle, with the Heinz label still on it. " Now, my friend is what we call, "total mer-i-gan," but she really adapted well to all the strange things that went on in my house growing up. So, I said to her, "well, I'm glad I could provide that experience for you." She never judged --but in the end, we laughed and now we cherish the memories about growing up Italian American.

No comments: